Moms are frazzled control freaks and dads are blithering incompetents in this dismally tame, faith-based comedy. Basically the message is: Don’t go out. Because if you do, all hell will break loose — or rather, all heck. My RogerEbert.com review. Read the review here...
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Reviews
What the Flick?! — Neighbors
My fellow SMU grad, Los Angeles Times critic Robert Abele, joins me and Alonso for a discussion of Zac Efron, Seth Rogen and Snuffer’s cheese fries. Robert and I wanted to laugh harder, but Alonso had a good time....
Read moreWhat the Flick?! — Walk of Shame
The ordinarily likable Elizabeth Banks throws herself into this terrible role with all the gusto she’s got, but even she can’t make her vapid TV news anchor character feel like a real person. Robert Abele joins me and Alonso to discuss this flat, unfunny slog....
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Walk of Shame
“Walk of Shame” was not screened for critics before opening day. When I went to a matinee of it Friday morning, this made sense to me. Elizabeth Banks’ immense likability and comedic talent go to waste in this misogynistic, flat farce. My one-star RogerEbert.com review. Read the review here...
Read moreRevisiting Rango
Damn, I love “Rango” so much. It is absolutely gorgeous: vividly detailed, wildly colorful and thrillingly inventive from start to finish, even as it pays homage to such classic and eclectic films as “Chinatown,” “Apocalypse Now” and Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti Westerns. I had the pleasure of revisiting the 2011 animated...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — The Other Woman
From revenge comedy to cautionary tale to scatological raunchfest to female empowerment drama, director Nick Cassavetes’ veers wildly all over the place. For a while, though, Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann share an enjoyable chemistry as two of the three woman who discover the same serial philanderer has wronged them....
Read moreWhat the Flick?! — The Other Woman
Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann have some solid chemistry with each other in this comedy about scorned women seeking revenge. But then Kate Upton shows up, and the whole endeavor turns irretrievably slapsticky....
Read moreWhat the Flick?! — Alan Partridge
You don’t have to have seen a single episode of any of the Alan Partridge TV shows to enjoy this feature-length film version. Steve Coogan is at his best with his signature comic character: a pompous, condescending but exceedingly needy and awkward British broadcaster. “Alan Partridge” is available on demand,...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Bad Words
I really wanted to like this movie. I’ve been a big fan of Jason Bateman for years and the premise — a 40-year-old muscles his way into a national spelling bee — had real promise. “Bad Words” is simply trying to hard to shock us. Rather than being funny, most...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Better Living Through Chemistry
Playing namby-pamby isn’t Sam Rockwell’s strong suit. He’s at his best playing the wild card, the troublemaker, the most charming rogue. Here, he’s stuck as a put-upon pharmacist in this dark romantic comedy opposite Olivia Wilde as the boozy trophy wife who serves as his guide to debauchery. My RogerEbert.com...
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